Modern electronic devices, such as telecom equipment, often comprise a large number of electronic packages comprising Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) with different types of electronic components in order to provide desired functionality of the electronic devices. These electronic packages may also be referred to as PCB modules.
When integrating the PCB modules and their functions there are different requirements that have to be addressed, such as e.g. a required number of signal communication busses and a current distribution in the PCB.
In power electronics, such as DC-DC converters, the PCBs often carry high currents. Dimensions of power components required to carry these high currents often set a constraint on an overall height of the PCB modules. The high power densities needed in the power components of the PCB module further require an efficient cooling of the power components. A thermal loss distribution of the electronic packages is typically managed by a heat spreader, such as a base plate made of a high thermo-conductive material, such as e.g. aluminium-plates and/or heat sinks, connected to an active and/or passive cooling reference within an enclosure. The enclosure may e.g. be a chassis of the electronic device and/or air surrounding the components.
In order to harmonize the requirements discussed above and to provide the desired functionality of the electronic device, a plurality of different mechanical variants and options of power modules are usually provided. This result in high manufacturing costs and a complex supply chain for involved components. Furthermore, a plurality of PCB modules is usually placed next to each other on a host board in an enclosure to form the electronic device. Due to the plurality of different variants of the power modules the dimensions of the PCB modules may vary. In order to be able to package the different power modules in an enclosure, care must be taken to ensure that the distance between the mounting positions of the PCB modules is large enough to allow PCB modules of different dimensions to be mounted next to each other on the host board. This may however lead to a lot of space in the enclosing of the electronic device being unused due to a too generously calculated spacing between the components. The amount of unused space in the housing increases the dimensions of the housing required for covering the plurality of PCB modules. In order to minimize the distance, which may also be referred to as a pitch, between the PCBs in systems, a low profile-height of the PCB module and an even, which may also be referred to as a uniform, skyline of the PCB module is usually desired. This however may lead to a limitation on the dimensions of the power components if the spacing between the components is inadequate.